Archive for March 1st, 2018

The United Nations and its partners in Libya have called for the voluntary, safe and dignified return of the population displaced from the northern town of Tawergha without a delay, expressing deep concern about the situation faced by these people living in makeshift-tented settlements in nearby areas.

UNHCR/L. Dobbs | A group of Tawerghan men displaced after the fighting in Libya in 2011. UNHCR is concerned about the situation of some 2,500 Tawerghans who fled their camp in Benghazi in mid-October 2014 to escape fighting.

Nearly 19 million babies born globally every year – 14 per cent – are at risk of permanent yet preventable brain damage and reduced cognitive function due to a lack of iodine in the earliest years of life, according to a United Nations-backed report released on 1 March 2018.

Photo: FAO/Ubirajara Machado |Children eat a meal at their school which is taking part in a school feeding programme in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The report from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partner, the Global Alliance of Improved Nutrition (GAIN), notes that insufficient iodine during pregnancy and infancy results in neurological and psychological deficits, reducing a child’s IQ by 8 to 10 points.